Hess trading soars on takeover rumour

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By News wires

 05 October 2009 22:42 GMT

Trading of options to buy Hess shares jumped to a four-year high on speculation that the fifth-biggest US oil company may attract a takeover bid.



More than 53,000 calls giving the right to buy the shares changed hands, eight times the four-week average and seven times greater than the number of puts giving the right to sell.

The most-active contracts were October $55 calls, which expire at the end of next week. Hess rose $1.88, or 3.6%, to $53.67 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Takeover speculation is driving increases in options trades and the share price of Hess, said Fadel Gheit, managing director at Oppenheimer & Company in New York.

He said he does not…

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